Monday, December 6, 2010

At this special time of the year, I would love to express my deep gratitude to all of you, the extraordinary musicians, incredible artists and remarkable audience, who together and despite all, valiantly convey the Idea of ART in our turbulent world.

For our December night we are enormously excited to welcome back our great CU friend Jura Margulis, professor of piano at University of Arkansas, joined by his sister Alissa Margulis, an esteemed violinist and professor of the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, who are coming to share with us their new program for their upcoming album of Liszt's magnificent but rarely heard works for violin and piano, including their "Grand duo concertant" that brought down the house at Martha Argerich's Lugano Festival last summer.

The theatrical tenor Timur Bekbosunov and Eduardo Delgado will perform arias of Henry Purcell, including the haunting "Cold Song" from "King Arthur", which was popularized by the cult performance artist Klaus Nomi.

Our poet of the piano Eduardo will continue with one of Robert Schumann's most deeply passionate works, the Fantasy in C (first movement), dedicated to no less than Franz Liszt.

To end the night in a holiday mood with sugarplums dancing in our heads, Mikael Oganes will perform selections from Mikhail Pletnev's virtuosic solo piano transcription of "The Nutcracker Suite".

Let's celebrate the season with the Idea of Art in one of her most glorious forms!

Please bring an unwrapped toy for our good friends and neighbors Glory Christian International Church's toy drive in support of their extensive work with underprivileged inner city children.

P.S. As always - bring your spirits, food and drink for you and your friends to enjoy. Please RSVP via Paypal (below). If you have problems with PayPal - don't wait - email us right away! And don't forget to dress warm - it is winter in the studio!

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Classical Underground Showcase:

Joseph Todorovitch

One of the important aspects of the young generation of American artists choosing serious figurative realism as ther favored mode of expression is a dedication to study visual reality in all its complex and subtle forms. It often resides in concentrated examination of the tonal depth and richness that conveys the life-like persuasiveness and introspection of contemporary character.

It is remarkable to see such great new voices like Joseph Todorovitch making LA a new center of gravity in the art world. We are thrilled to showcase one of the bright and very promising talents in the newly emerging Realist Movement of our time.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Here I am, 1:30 in the morning, and still soaring on the emotions of the evening.I know I will land at some point, but right now it is an amazing feeling.Tonight's Classical Underground reached a level of artistry that we can only hope will be matched in future evenings.We all agreed that this was the best program with the best performances we have seen so far.Alexey and Olga outdid themselves.We wept at the beauty of Bach,roared with laughter at piano for 6, count 'em six, hands, and experienced several other emotions in between.But to specifics.

The program began with classical guitar played by a lovely young woman, Iren Arutyunyan.It was serene, quiet and a perfect aperitif for the start of the evening.Then came the first heart attack.Moni Simeonov played the Chaconne from Bach's Partita #2 for unaccompanied violin.Just before the performance Laurence Vittes, the house commentator, said that the work would show us our souls.And then Moni played.The music grew and grew and grew and many in the audience began to weep, including yours truly.When he finished the response was so intense and heartfelt I thought some of Alexey's paintings would fall off the walls.

Wondering who could follow such an experience was answered when Ben Lulich, principal clarinetist for our own Pacific Symphony, accompanied by Pepi Pilibossian on piano, played his collation of variations on "Carnival of Venice".He clearly enjoyed playing to an audience that clearly enjoyed him.Total delight and fabulous clarinet playing.

The first half of the program finished with CU favorite Mikael Oganessian performing his transcription of "Night at Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky.Alexey prefaced the performance by saying that Mussorgsky captured perfectly the extremes of the Russian character with this piece."Mika" then proceeded to play as if he had an entire symphony orchestra in his hands.And he did.For those of us familiar with the Ravel orchestration of "Night...." it was a wonderful new look at an old friend.All the color was there along with the wonder of just how he did it.

We staggered out for intermission, shaking our heads as what we had just heard and seen.But Wait! There was more coming!

The first work in the second half was the work of a contemporary composer, Stig Petterson, entitled "A Dream Play".It is excerpts of a chamber opera scored for piano, 2 violins, cello, accordion, clarinet, glockenspiel and voice (soprano).It was lovely.Afterwards Stig spoke about how he loved earlier composers but found that sometimes they used too many notes for his taste.He was trying to achieve the same intensity and emotion in his pieces, but with fewer notes.Charming and revelatory.

The comments about note count became moot with the next performance.Harout Senekeremian played three pieces by Marc-Andre Hamelin.Who is Mr. Hamelin you might ask.He is a piano virtuoso who writes fiendishly complicated pieces for other piano virtuosos.In other words, a lot of notes. The fact that they are also beautifuland leave the audience gasping for breath at the end is almost an afterthought.

The final performance of the program was the return of Mika, Harout and Pepi for an arrangement for 6 hands of Rossini's "Barber of Seville", including the famous "Figaro!, Figaro!, Figaro!" passage, voice supplement courtesy Mika.It brought down the house.This time the tears were of laughter and hilarity.

As we drove home, exhausted, exhilirated (sp.) and overwhelmed by the evening, we shared our favorite moments of the evening.I have left out our interactions with other members of the audience, the discovery of two tango enthusiasts sitting in the row in front of us, Kris finding one of Elysabeth's friends coming back for his third CU, bringing some friends for their first time.

As we were settling down, or trying to, Ernie and I marveled about the evening.We wonder how this can continue.But we forget.There is so much talent and so much passion for this kind of experience.We should be thankful for Alexey and Olga having the talent and passion to bring everything together for these magical evenings.

Monday, October 25, 2010

By popular demand we are sharing our exciting program with you as it formed by now. Tonight will be a night of astounding piano virtuosity and a lovely new chamber opera, plus Bach, Spanish guitar, Italian clarinet, and Russian cello favorites with introductions by Comrade Laurence Vittes.

In a Classical Underground first, we present selections from a new opera, "A Dream Play" by local composer S.J. Pettersson (who will be present), in a chamber orchestration for a unique array of instruments and voice.

Marc Andre-Hamelin is considered today's greatest piano super-virtuoso, specializing in the most entertainingly difficult works of the 19th century, but did you know he is also a brilliant composer? Inspired by the style of 19th-century piano greats like Alkan and Thalberg, these hyper-difficult, hyper-beautiful etudes require a hyper-virtuoso to bring them off, and we have one in Harout Senekeremian!

Our CU favorite, Moni Simeonov, is bringing this time the beautiful and virtuoso Bach's Chaconne. We are also getting ready for a surprise performance. The rumours say that Natalia Margulis (principal cello at the Madrid Royal Opera) and Armen Ksajikian (principal of Los Angeles Chamber) were rehearsing few pieces for two celli today. Stay tuned for their late-night appearance!

And to cap off our evening of virtuosity and opera, 6 hands and 30 flying fingers on one Steinway keyboard in a Rossini grand finale!

and the weather? ....not record high, not record low, and no rain in the evening!

Thank you everyone for being patient while dealing with the paypal issues!

alexey steele presents

CLASSICAL UNDERGROUND

October 25, 2010

Music and Art Series

Special thanks to Steinway Piano Gallery – West Hollywood for their wonderful Steinway D!

One of the key elements of the human interpretation of "real" is our sense of "design" which is aimed at making personal choices of importance and priorities within the chosen subject through the arrangement of main compositional forms - something no techno gadget is capable of making regardless of a price tag. Great friends who shared many travel adventures together, Glen, Logan and Eric are some of today's leading young artists investigating in their enormously effective and aesthetically satisfying work the visual force of "design."

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

We have a great program for our October evening studded with wonderful musical talents and exciting works, spanning from the immortal classics to the music of our day. Let's celebrate together the ever-present and ever-burning spirit of art and the beginning of the holiday season at our Classical Underground.

Iren Arutyunyan, classical guitar, garnered many awards since she was 13, including first prize at the Aron Green/ASTA Classical Guitar Competition.

Eugene Lifschitz, currently at Colburn Scool of Music is a laureate of the International Schlern Music Competition and has just returned to the US after two years study at the Moscow Conservatory under famed cello teacher Natalia Gutman.

Gee Rabe, LA's accordion diva, has won major awards for her performance, including the Accordion Federation of North America's virtuoso (Western classical) and virtuoso jazz competitions in 1984 and 1985 respectively. She is currently finishing a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Yakov Birman, pianist, graduated from St. Petersburg Conservatory, is active performing and teaching. Dr. Yakov Birman has experience in music from the Baroque era to our own time.

Mikhail Korzhev, pianist, is equally active as a solo recitalist, a chamber musician and has appeared as soloist with orchestras to high critical acclaim from American and European press. Korzhev recorded a CD of Krenek’s piano music released by Phoenix Records.

S.J. Pettersson, composer. A handpicked ensemble of Classical Underground favorites and newcomers will be performing selected pieces from S.J. Pettersson's 2010 chamber opera "A Dream Play" plus a world premiere performance of his new piece for cello and piano.

Mikael Oganes, pianist - CU favorite, who in addition to his virtuoso performances, continuously surprises and dazzles with his incredible piano transcriptions of major symphonic works.

Harout Senekeremian, pianist, is an eager participant in the performance of new music. Senekeremian continues to concertize in both solo and chamber concerts in Southern California as well as maintaining an active piano studio.

Cosima Luther (MM, University of Southern California, BA, Pepperdine University) has been playing violin since the age of five andis currently a freelance teacher and performer in the Los Angeles area.

Oxana Senina, coloratura soprano, holds two Bachelor of Music degrees in both voice and cello from Chonkushov University and a Master's degree in voice from the Gnessino Academy in Moscow.

Ben Lulich, principal clarinet of the Pacific Symphony since May 2007, will be debuting at CU.

Jack Verga has had a long successful career as a jazz drummer, orchestral percussionist and teacher in the Los Angeles area.

Noel Gould, rare to find a fantastic engineer who is also a pianist; over the past 28 years he has recorded everyone from Leon Fleisher, the Tokyo String Quartet, The New York Woodwind Ensemble, Leonard Rose, The Vermeer String Quartet, Rufus Choi and our own Yana Reznik!

Classical Underground Showcase:

Focus on Design in Painting: The Three Compadres

Glenn Dean, Logan Hegege, Eric Merrell

As the newest stage of contemporary realism, which I came to call NOVOREALISM, is gaining steam with great new generation of young American talent, it is showing itself in a diverse variety of existing and distinct forms.

"Realism" in painting is often thought of as something that "looks just like a photograph," which in fact cannot be further from its actual substance. "Photorealism" is a respected and established part of a modernist expression, which is aimed at recreating a technological effect of a photograph. "Realism" is based solely on the laws and principles of a human perception of a visual world. Even when "realist" painters use photographs (even though when they do, it is most often as a very secondary reference) it is done entirely based on their long-developed ability to interpret visual reality "live."

One of the key elements of this human interpretation of "real" is our sense of "design" which is aimed at making personal choices of importance and priorities within the chosen subject through the arrangement of main compositional forms - something no techno gadget is capable of making regardless of a price tag.

Great friends who shared many travel adventures together, Glen, Logan and Eric are some of today's leading young artists investigating in their enormously effective andaesthetically satisfying work the visual force of "design."

Monday, September 27, 2010

To everyone who is coming tonight - please note that this is the hottest day of the year, and it is pretty warm in the studio. Please dress accordingly! and for potluck consider the "colder" food / drinks!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

It's hard to believe that the summer is over and we are on with our fourth season of celebrating the very spirit of ART at our Classical Underground.We have great plans and ideas for new ways of showing and supporting ART that we are excited to share with you as we go into the season, and we have a mother lode of musical treats in our September 27th program.We are extremely proud and fortunate to set an informal stage (in fact so informal there is no stage!) for the greatest classical music talents from here and beyond, who are performing at CU for the pure love of their Great and Noble ART,united in the cause of reaching out to new and wonderful audiences with the best that the wonderful world of classical music has to offer:

No matter what we face collectively in this much-troubled world of ours, it is ART that will always be there to inspire us,and I much look forward to seeing you all on Monday to share in the experience which is Classical Underground.Again we are most grateful to our supportive friends at Steinway Piano Gallery West Hollywood for graciously providing us with their incomparable instrument.
Alexey
P.S. As always - don't forget - it is a potluck party - bring your favorite food and drink!Your PayPal payment is your reservation to the evening.

CU Showcase: NOVOREALISM and Convergence of Generations

It is so exciting to see LA on the front line of a great cultural transition in ART yet again as we see happening in front of our very eyes. Among other various intriguing forms of contemporary expression, American Realism as a most recent form of American Non-Conformism is gaining energy and excitement among young and rebellious talents. The rapidly gaining note (if not notoriety!) LA Classical Visual Art gang, which is much represented at CU showcases, is certainly a raucous part of this wide and diverse movement across the land, which different people call different names and which I call Novorealism.
We are enormously excited to host a constellation of new bright young stars of this exciting movement: Scott Burdick, Rose Franzen, Nancy Guzik, Ignat Ignatov, Jeremy Lipking, Susan Lyon, Tony Pro, Joseph Todorovich, Michelle Dunaway, among other great talents. Yet the most fascinating part is that these Young Guns are getting together with their beloved iconic Maestro Richard Schmid and a special appearance of my dad, Master Leonid Steele, to paint (much as we did last year) one of the beloved CU musical stars and an unforgettable character - cellist Armen Ksajikian.What could better represent the inseparable connection of these two glorious art forms than some of the best painters in the land painting our best musicians!As our CU experiment of bringing classical forms of music and visual arts together on a cross-inspirational platform gets note from LA to NY to London and everywhere in between, we are enormously proud to showcase some of the results of this truly exciting and unique gathering.

Kanae Matsumoto, is active as a soloist and a collaborative pianist, having performed at many recital halls in Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan and the United States.

Laszlo Mezo, winner of several International competitions, is a a member of the Pacific Symphony and has performed extensively in Europe, Asia and America.

Vicky Miskolczy, associate principal viola of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, a member of the Capitol Ensemble. She also performed solo recitals in Australia, US and Canada.

Mitsuko Morikawa, a professional accompanist over 10 years, recorded music for the New World Records label and have been featured on radio programs such as WCLV, Cleveland and NHK-FM, Japan.

Robert Thies, the only American pianist in four decades to win a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn. "A pianist of unerring warm-toned refinement, revealing judicious glimmers of power" (LA Times)

Bradley Wisk, lyric tenor, described as having "an alluring rich color and exceptionally spinning stratospheric top notes", and a "tall dark drink of a leading man".

NOVOREALISM and CONVERGENCE of GENERATIONS

It is so exciting to see LA on the front line of a great cultural transition in ART yet again as we see happening in front of our very eyes. Among other various intriguing forms of contemporary expression, American Realism as a most recent form of American Non-Conformism is gaining energy and excitement among young and rebellious talents. The rapidly gaining note (if not notoriety!) LA Classical Visual Art gang, which is much represented at CU showcases, is certainly a raucous part of this wide and diverse movement across the land, which different people call different names and which I call Novorealism.

We are enormously excited to host a consellation of new bright young stars of this exciting movement: Scott Burdick, Rose Franzen, Nancy Guzik, Ignat Ignatov, Jeremy Lipking, Susan Lyon, Tony Pro, Joseph Todorovich, Michelle Dunaway, among other great talents. Yet the most fascinating part is that these Young Guns got together with their beloved iconic Maestro Richard Schmid and a special appearance of my dad, Master Leonid Steele, to paint one of the beloved CU musical stars and an unforgettable character - cellist Armen Ksajikian.

Armen Ksajikian, has performed as principal or soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber, Opus Chamber and Hollywood Bowl orchestras, among others.

Mission Statement

We feel THAT what is missing the most in today’s world. In great debate weather ART has a future in a commercialized world of ours, we say ART is the Future.

It has to be ART, though true and pure, to make it through. Gone is the tiring age of fake, pump and pretense. Gone are the murky waters. All else stripped – ART stands in all its naked Relevance.

We believe in ART. Not as just another way of making a living, but as the very Way of Life.

We are the Underground and we stand in a subversive opposition to all and every accepted tacitly way the commercially driven society treats ART. We consider ART being a form of ultimate subversion in a greed-glorifying world and we argue a singular importance of ART outside commercialism and corrupt institutionalism within the society in crisis.

ART shall bring back what bankers had stolen from the society – the common purpose being anything else other than militant, blatant greed.

We are Classical and we stand on the shoulders of combined labor and sacrifice of cultural giants humanity managed to produce despite all its shortfalls and who were able to surpass all constraints of time and fads of the moment. The essence of their timeless creations, which is pure and true ART, stands as final testimony to in-suppressible powers of human spirit bearing extreme relevance to our time.

We stand in firm belief in fresh vitality and visceral strength of Classical, Humanistic in nature, content, philosophy and worldview for our truly modern audiences and viewers.

We are there to support and to amplify the voice of anyone across disciplines who we think is instrumental in this process.

With the Clarity of Intent we will find new ways ART can sustain itself and expand in these troubled times as Artists - some of true Heroes of Society - shall be able to enjoy the fruits of their intense, hard labor and sacrifice which is a pure Labor of Love. To that end we all work and contribute in a collaborative spirit in name of ART and Friendship. We will do everything to share ART and spread the word, as ART is the ever-flaming torch in a society facing Storm.